Wednesday, January 21, 2015

S.E.X. Spotlight~ The Ultimatum by Katy Swann

They
say that everyone has a book in them just waiting to be written. I was no different and one day decided to
give it a go. I wrote a ghost story and loved
the experience so much that I wrote another one. I didn’t submit them to a publisher because
they were too quirky, but writing them gave me a new lease of life. Two of my three children are autistic so I
needed something to focus on that would keep me sane and I quickly discovered
that writing was it.

Shortly
after finishing the second ghost story I read Fifty Shades of Grey. Although I enjoyed it, I had a slightly
different take on Dominance and submission and decided to write a short story based
on my own feelings on the subject. It
was only meant to be a couple of thousand words, but Rachel, the feisty,
slightly scatty sub, and Adam, the devious but sexy Dom, seemed to take on a
life of their own. I decided to lengthen
the short story to a novella, maybe about ten thousand words or so, but by the
time I’d gotten that far Rachel and Adam had become almost real to me. And so I carried on writing until the short
story became a trilogy of over one hundred and fifty thousand words.

I
was initially going to self publish it, but thought that it would be
interesting to get a professional opinion so I sent it to Totally Bound, the
biggest and best publisher of erotic fiction in the UK. I didn’t really expect them to accept it, but
hoped that they might give me some constructive feedback, so when they wrote to
say they liked my partial submission and would like to see the full manuscript
I was blown away. I remember saying to
my husband that even if they didn’t accept the book at least they must have
seen something good in it. A few weeks
later I got that magic email that every author dreams of – an offer of a
contract for the book.

Working
with a professional editor has taught me so much. She’s been so patient and supportive, even
when I’ve asked what must have seemed like really stupid questions, and we’ve
built up a great working relationship.
Having an experienced team behind you is incredibly inspiring and the
whole process has been amazing.

Before
Boundaries was even released I’d started work on my next project, a series
called Dominion. I was addicted to writing now, but not just
any old fiction. It had to be BDSM romance,
Dominance and submission in particular.
I feel really strongly about it and want to show what a beautiful thing
D/s can be. The first book in the
Dominion series, The Ultimatum, explores the D/s
dynamic within a troubled marriage.
Again, I wanted to portray D/s as something beautiful that can heal a
broken heart and bring a couple closer together. Although there’s plenty of sex and kinky
stuff including bondage, spanking and flogging it’s the D/s in particular that
I’ve focused on. I want the reader to
feel that delicious tingling in the heroine’s belly when she kneels by her
Master’s feet knowing that he’ll look after her no matter what devious things
he has planned.

I’m
very lucky that I’ve found something that I’m so passionate about. I’m able to fit my writing in around the
school run, gym and housework and have become much less self-conscious about
the subject matter. Most people who know
me know what I write, my mother even proofreads for me. I spend many hours in coffee shops with my
laptop and cappuccino lost in my erotic world of kinky sex. The more naughty the chapter I’m working on,
the smaller the font on my screen becomes because people have been known to
read over my shoulder.

This
is book one in the Dominion series, see the full series listing here

Once a submissive, always a
submissive, right? Maybe she needs a little reminder.

Frankie
Hamilton is stunned when her husband, Jake, gives her an ultimatum—either she
goes with him to a country hotel for the weekend or he’ll leave her. In an
attempt to save her troubled marriage she agrees to go.

But
Dominion is no ordinary hotel. During the week it’s an upmarket conference
center, but at weekends it becomes an exclusive BDSM hotel. This particular
weekend it’s Vanilla Spice, where those new or returning to BDSM can explore
their fantasies in a safe and decadent environment.

When
Jake asks her to submit one more time, Frankie is initially outraged. After
all, it’s been two years since their D/s dynamic ended and she’s no longer a
submissive. Is she? She still loves Jake and doesn’t want to lose him so she
agrees, even if it’s just to prove that she’s now as vanilla as the ice cream
in their freezer.

But
Frankie is soon reminded of how delicious it feels to kneel at her Master’s
feet. Her fondness for punishment and a good spanking leaves her begging for
more. And when their old friend and owner of Dominion, Marco Alessi, offers to
use her as the subject for a rope demo she’s finally forced to face up to her
kinky needs.

But
that’s not the only thing she has to come to terms with. Beneath her tough
exterior lies a grief that has been buried for two years. As her submission
starts to melt the icy core inside her heart, it sets off a chain of events and
emotions that could either make her marriage stronger than ever or completely
destroy it.

Reader Advisory: This book contains
scenes of anal sex, mild breathplay and public humiliation. There are MFM
scenes and references to FF intimacy.

Publisher's Note: This book was
previously published elsewhere. It has been revised and re-edited for release
with Totally Bound Publishing.

Katy
Swann is in her forties and lives near London, UK with her husband, three
children and two cats.

When
she isn't writing about strict, sexy Doms putting their strong-willed subs in
their place, she likes to read about them. As well as writing, Katy spends her
time trying to avoid the housework, keeping the kids from killing each other
and drinking copious cups of coffee in the local coffee shop. Coffee and
chocolate are the two things that keep her sane and focused, so they're often
close by when she sits down to write.